ACT Announces New Asbestos Regulations
The ACT has announced new laws mandating asbestos awareness training for workers where an employer reasonably believes that worker will work with asbestos or ACM while at work.
The new regulation [section 445 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation] will also mandate this training for all construction occupations.
The regulation mndates a specific training course – the VET course Asbesos Awareness [10314NAT]. From 1 July 2014 only training in this course will meet the requirements of the regulation.
WorkSafe ACT will accept some training done by other organisations prior to 1 July and further details of this can be found on WorkSafe ACT’s revised Guidance Note No. 98 [see below].
The new regulation will take effect from 1 July 2014, with all workers effected by the regulation to be trained by 30 September 2014.
The regulation places an obligation on the PCBU [generally the employer] to keep records of which of their workers have been trained. Fines may apply if employers do not have their workers trained in this new course.
WorkSafe ACT’s revised Guidance Note 98 – Asbestos Awareness Training provides more detail regarding this new requirement. The revised Guidance Note can be found on the Publications page of the WorkSafe ACT website [www.worksafe.act.gov.au].
